Trade School: The Anti-College Fairytale

I support trade school enrollment IF it’s where you personally belong, IF it’s the job you want to do for (likely) the rest of your life. But I don’t support the trade school lie, the overused, anti-college trope that trade school is perfect and flawless and exactly right for everyone. So I’m gonna pull back the curtain and expose the illusion; I’m gonna add a dose of reality to the anti-college movement’s favorite propaganda … trade school.

The 5 Tropes of Trade School Propaganda

There’s a bunch of propaganda in this recent article from the Washington Times:

Trade school enrollments boom as high school grads shun costly four-year degrees

Using this article, I’m gonna expose 5 trade school tropes that are embellished by the anti-college movement.

Trade School Trope #1: College is costly and debt-ridden for everyone

Quoting Vince Gregg, principal of Blue Ridge Technical Center in Front Royal, Virginia, the Washington Times reports:

More students are gravitating towards the trades because it’s hands-on and you can make a lucrative career for yourself right out of high school without financing $150,000 of debt to attend a four-year college.

It’s a blanket statement — part of the trope — to imply that everyone will automatically be “financing $150,000 of debt to attend a four-year college.” Yes, college can be expensive, but that expense varies person to person based on numerous factors and choices.[1] Six-figure debt/tuition, though it’s often wildly and fantastically implied, isn’t the norm for every American college student.[2]

This point is actually baked into the anti-college movement, which LOVES to horrify using the college debt “average.” The Washington Times reports:

As living costs become bigger concerns for U.S. families, the average federal student loan debt has risen to $37,850 as of March. [emphasis added][3]

Typically, this average is suggested as pandemic proof (a subtle guarantee) of crippling, college debt, as the status quo for all young graduates. But being an “average,” it actually represents a midpoint, with…